Christmas Genoa Cake-United Kingdom #74

Christmas Genoa Cake- United Kingdom #74

First, This is my version on Mary Berry's Christmas Genoa Cake. I am inspired by the Great British Baking Show, which Mary Berry is a judge. Second, I've had many fruit cakes, many variations of them. Third, this is without a doubt my favorite. This cake is much lighter in texture and color delectablly moist. It also does not have those colored bits that no one knows what they are. However, it does take a lot of time, 2-3 hours. Two of those hours are for baking. 

Ingredients:

12 oz. red or natural (uncolored) glazed cherries, rinsed, dried and cut into quarters
8 oz. can chopped pineapple in juice, drained, dried and roughly chopped
2 oz. ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped

3-1/2 oz. blanched almonds, roughly chopped
2 lemons, finely grated zest only
12 oz. sultanas, or golden raisins or regular raisins (I used a combination)
9 oz. unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for buttering the springform pan
9 oz. caster sugar (I used regular white sugar)
5 eggs, lightly beaten
9 oz. self-raising flour
2-1/2 oz. ground almonds (I used almond flour)
 

Topping:

small handful blanched whole almonds
small handful walnut halves
small handful red or natural (uncolored) glazed cherries, halved
1-3/4 oz. whole orange peel, cut into pieces
apricot jam

1. Preheat oven 320F. Butter 9" springform pan. Line bottom and sides with a double layer of parchment paper
2. In a bowl, gently mix together the cherries, pineapple, apricots, almonds, lemon zest and sultanas until well combined.  Set aside.
3. In a mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Pour in the beaten eggs a little at a time, adding a spoonful of the flour tp prevent the mixture from curdling. Mix after each addition.
4. Carefully fold the remaining flour and ground almonds(almond flour) into the cake mixture using a metal spoon, then gently fold in the fruit and nut mixture until just combined.
5. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.
6. For the topping, decorate the cake with the blanched whole almonds, walnut halves, glazed cherry halves and orange peel.
7. Bake the cake for 2-2-1/2 hours (mine was ready in 2 hours), or until golden brown on top and cooked through. Test with a skewer inserted into the center. Cover the cake loosely with aluminum foil after 1 hour to prevent the top from becoming too dark. (I didn't find this necessary)
8. Set the cake aside in its pan to cool for 30 minutes, then remove from the pan, peel the parchment paper away from the sides and place onto a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Meanwhile, heat the apricot am in a small pan over a low heat, strain through a sieve to remove any pieces of fruit.  When the cake has cooled, brush the top all over with the warm apricot jam.

Mary Berry suggest wrapping a ribbon around the cake and tie with a bow. (Needless to say, I didn't do this.)

Results: This is a very time consuming recipe. It's not hard to make, it just takes time. I couldn't find the glazed cherries so I used maraschino cherries. Also, I didn't find blanched almonds, I also didn't put in a lot of effort looking for them. I used regular almonds, unsalted. I was so excited to be putting the cake in the oven I forgot to add the walnuts for decoration. I used fewer cherries than the recipe called for because I ran out. I also knew people wouldn't like a lot of them in the cake, which was evident in the Black Forest Cake #25. This Genoa Cake came out beautiful! It had height, a golden color, fruit throughout, (not settled on the bottom), and tasted delicious.

Bottom Line: My tasters loved it. Will I make it again? Probably not, but who knows. If someone says, "Really wish we had a fruit cake for the holidays." I would do it again but I hope no one says that. 

Please share this blog with hesitant fruit cake lovers and anyone else you can convince to try one bite. Thanks.